The invention relates to an absorption mass consisting of an oxidic porous carrier substance saturated with copper sulfate CuSO.sub.4 which is suitable for the elimination of reactive process gases in the electronics industry.
The electronics industry makes use of reactive gases in the production of semi-conductors. Commonly used reactive gases are: arsenic hydride AsH.sub.3, phosphorous hydride PH.sub.3, boron hydride B.sub.2 H.sub.6, germanium hydride GeH.sub.4 and silicon hydride SiH.sub.4. These reactive gases are toxic and tend to spontaneous combustion so that they must be effectively eliminated to prevent any negative effects on the environment.
An absorbent for the elimination, for example, of AsH.sub.3 consists of a 60% solution of copper sulfate pentahydrate CuSO.sub.4. 5H.sub.2 O and silica gel whose residual moisture lies between 10% and 25%, following a drying period of 17 hours at a temperature of 110.degree. C. A disadvantage of this known absorbent is its small absorption capacity and low threshold value. The threshold limit value (TLV value), in other words, the maximum admissable concentration of the substance can be used to establish the threshold value. Both factors mentioned above can easily lead to serious contamination of the environment even when the substance has been subsequently dump-covered as a precaution. An additional drawback is that the absorption front becomes totally blurred so that a visual detection of the degree of exhaustion of the absorption mass contained in a glass tube is more difficult.